MOURINHO: POSITIVE EVOLUTION

Jose Mourinho conducted his final pre-match press conference of the season at Cobham today, ahead of Sunday’s game against Cardiff City.

The Blues can still secure a second-place finish if we win our game and Newcastle United beat Liverpool at Anfield, but the manager explained he is likely to be without three of his more experienced players.

‘Frank Lampard is ill, he’s in bed,’ said the Portuguese. ‘If today Frank is in bed I don’t think he will come tomorrow with conditions to travel.

‘Samuel Eto’o got an injury in training today and John Terry got a little thing yesterday. Normally all of them will be out.’

Mourinho was asked to assess our season as a whole, and overall he has been pleased with our progression, particularly in comparison to the previous campaign.

‘It was positive, there was an evolution in every competitive aspect,’ he said. ‘Last year we were out of the title race by November, when Man United were champions the distance was around 20 points. After that we reduced it a bit but there was always a huge distance to the top of the table. This season we fought until it was mathematically impossible, until the previous game, two games from the end of the championship.

‘In Europe we didn’t get through the group phase of the Champions League last season, we were relegated to the Europa League, and this season we went to the semi-finals. I’m not saying we fought until the last minute of the second leg but at the start of the second leg we were in a good position to reach the final, so from a competitive aspect it was an evolution.

‘Some of the players had that experience of fighting for the title for the first time and fighting in the Champions League, playing in the knockout phase, quarter-final and semi-final.’